The present invention relates to the area of surgical retractors and, particularly, to surgical retractors having primary utility when the anatomical structures to be retracted are located at the same side of the operating physician.
Surgical retractors are used to hold a surgical incision open during a surgical procedure. At present, retraction is effected by the pulling of a retractor by an assistant as is located either opposite or beside the surgeon, or by means of a self-retaining retractor. There exist numerous disadvantages that are inherent in present methods and means for retraction. For example, when the assistant is positioned beside the surgeon and is pulling a retractor, the assistant cannot, for the most part, see what the surgeon is doing. Moreover, the act of continuous pulling by the assistant typically proves to be very fatiguing. The consequences thereof are, those of inefficiency, inaccuracy, and the potential for additional trauma to the patient.
In those conditions to retract the site opposite to the assistant in which the assistant is positioned at the opposite side of the surgeon, it has been found that the pulling of the retractor by the assistant is even more fatiguing because the assistant's arm is fully extended, this entailing resulting harm to the respiration of the patient. However, when the assistant is positioned along side of the surgeon, although this is a more convenient location to the assistant, this position has been found to hamper free movement on the part of the operator surgeon and risky for the patient since he is unable to see the essential work of the surgeon or the conditions that he is feeling.
Furthermore, in any case, the assistant's arm will frequently find itself resting upon the patient's body and thereby impairing his respiration.
The self-retaining retractor, which is typically bilateral in its action, provides retraction on the side at which it is not needed as well at the side at which it is needed. As such, the resultant forces and pressure from the self-retaining retractor often operate to induce unnecessary trauma to the patient. Moreover, the self-retaining retractor must often be supplemented with manual retraction means and always requires a longer incision.
The instant invention represents an improvement of my surgical retractor reflected in U.S. Pat. No. 4,122,844 (1978). As such, the present invention, like that taught in my said 1978 U.S. Patent, is of utility primarily in the retraction of the ipsilateral relative to the surgeon and in accomplishing sutures of incisions in connection therewith. It is of secondary application in the retraction of cranial and caudal portions of an incision.
The present invention may, therefore, be understood as yet a further improvement in my inventions relative to the subject of pushed or pushable surgical retractors.